The Rector Writes – August 2009
Dear Friends,
Every month I submit material to the editor for the centre spread of this magazine. This includes details of Sunday services. Many of these are described as Holy Eucharist and I sometimes wonder what that name communicates to readers who rarely attend church.
The word Eucharist looks foreign, as indeed it is, in origin. If you have ever visited the Greek-speaking world you will know that Evcharisto – with the accent on the final syllable and ch pronounced as in loch – is how you say ‘thank you’.
There are many aspects to the Eucharist but one of them is an expression of thanksgiving for all that God has done for us, his wayward children, in enabling us to be reconciled to him through Jesus, and to belong to his family, which is the Church. One section of the service is called The Thanksgiving, when bread and wine are set aside to become for us the body and blood of Jesus, as a reminder of his death and resurrection, and that one day he will come again. Taking this consecrated bread and wine, otherwise known as Holy Communion, gives Christians a sense of closeness to God as we share these signs of his presence in obedience to Jesus’ command, ‘Do this in remembrance of me’. A Christian is basically one who obeys Jesus because he said, ‘If you love me you will obey my commands’.
People are usually admitted to Communion, that is, allowed to receive the bread and wine, from their early teens after a course of preparation. There is no maximum age for this. Candidates will be offered an outline of the Christian faith and encouraged to adopt a discipline of daily Bible-reading and prayer, of regular attendance at church, and some form of service in the outside world. Of these, the most important aspect would be coming to church, where there is instruction and encouragement to live the Christian life in company with our brothers and sisters in the faith. To attend a course without worship or service is like someone who takes a series of lessons about the theory of swimming but never gets into the water!
In Anglican Churches, such as the Church in Wales or the Church of England, people are admitted to Communion at a confirmation service. This is presided over by a bishop. There are at least two senses in which someone is confirmed: they confirm the promises of baptism which may have been made for them when they were too young to remember it – this would not apply to someone who was baptised as an adult; and the bishop prays that their faith will be strengthen or ‘be made firm’. I would be pleased to discuss the possibility of confirmation with anyone who is interested but, as I have written above, the main expression of interest is regular attendance at worship in church.
Those of us who attend church regularly know what takes place in the services and what the building is like. We are familiar with the music and we know many of those who attend. Most of all, we know that anyone is free to join us, whether they choose to or not. I sometimes put myself in the position of someone who has not been brought up in the ways of the Church but would like to start attending, if only to find out what goes on. I think it would take a great deal of courage to enter an unfamiliar building to join with a large group of people who know each other and what is expected of them.
It may be little easier for those wishing to return to church after a period of absence. There are many reasons why people stop coming to church: it may be family responsibilities, such as caring for sick or elderly relatives; it may be some disagreement which now seems rather trivial compared to the privilege of worshipping Almighty God; it might be that a while ago someone got out of the habit by the many distractions of life. Some people only want an invitation to come back – an assurance that they will be welcome.
An opportunity for this is Back To Church Sunday, which this year falls on 27th September.I shall be encouraging our members to consider prayerfully which of their friends, neighbours and relatives they might choose to ask to join them. It’s good for anyone to be assured that they will arrive with others and have someone to show their place in the book and introduce them to potential friends afterwards. With our wide range of worship in the parish I feel that this is a good time for us to be inviting others to join us.
Yours sincerely
Martin Snellgrove